The bill would create misdemeanor offenses for illegal entry from a foreign nation and illegal reentry by certain aliens. The penalties would be increased ranging from a state jail felony to a second degree felony in cases with certain previous convictions or under certain conditions. The bill would make it a second degree felony for a person to refuse to comply with an order to return to the foreign nation from which the person entered or attempted to enter the state as outlined in the bill's provisions.
The bill would make a defendant charged with or convicted of an offense outlined in the bill's provisions ineligible for community supervision and would make an inmate serving a sentence for illegal reentry or refusal to comply with an order outlined in the bill's provisions ineligible for mandatory supervision or parole.
Creating a new criminal offense may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals sentenced to a term of confinement.
According to the information reported by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) pursuant to Article IX, Section 7.10 of the GAA and Section 9 of House Bill 9, Eighty-seventh Legislature, Second Called Session, DPS reported 63,707 detentions and referrals to federal authorities in border regions during fiscal year 2022. It is unknown if any of these cases included conduct outlined in the bill's provisions.
The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to a lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct outlined in the bill's provisions that would be subject to criminal penalties.